1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus for printing patterns on a recording medium by discharging ink drops from nozzle holes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical ink-jet recording apparatus employs a recording head adapted for use in discharging ink drops from nozzle holes after pressurizing ink in pressure generating chambers by means of piezoelectric vibrators and heating elements. It is desirable in such an ink-jet recording apparatus to take measures to prevent print quality deterioration resulting from the presence of dried ink near nozzle holes and dust sticking to the nozzle holes.
One of the measures that has been taken is a so-called flushing operation in which ink drops are flushed out of the nozzle holes, irrespective of print data, by moving the recording head to a capping unit on standby in a non-print area each time the printing operation continues for a predetermined period, for example, 20 seconds.
Viscous ink sticking to a nozzle hole that has not discharged any ink drops or that has discharged only a few ink drops during the printing operation is thus made removable by discharging ink drops every predetermined period, irrespective of the printing operation. Consequently, the period of time before the nozzle hole becomes clogged with ink can be prolonged.
The ink-jet recording apparatus is loaded with two kinds of recording heads; namely, a black-ink recording head for discharging black ink and a color-ink recording head for discharging yellow, cyan and magenta ink, so that black ink and color ink are supplied to the respective recording heads.
Since solvents for use in black ink and color ink are different, as are their drying speeds, the flushing periods of the two kinds of recording heads are different. Particularly when quick-drying ink is used during color printing, one problem is that the printing speed decreases because the flushing operation is more frequently needed.
Consideration has been given to the use of an ink-jet recording head having high color printing performance for printing color label patterns. In this application, the paper feed function of a recording apparatus and the movement of its carriage are used for a so-called label issuing apparatus for cutting out the color label patterns with a cutting tool. However, the carriage movement path becomes longer because label paper wider than ordinary office recording media is used for labels. Consequently, it takes a considerable amount of time to move the recording head to a capping unit for flushing purposes. In other words, the use of conventional capping means as an ink receiver, such as the capping means used in an ordinary office recording apparatus, incurs a reduction in printing speed, thereby creating an obstacle to the commercial utilization of such a label issuing apparatus.